[EBB Sightings] serendipity

Your post reminded me that I forgot to send a report about Yellow-Rumped 
Warblers at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The oaks in the California 
section are full of them, coming into the most spectacular breeding plumage 
(Audubon's) I've ever seen.

Juncos are starting to sing, and a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks were 
calling to each other in flight over the rugby field at Centennial and Rim 
Drive. I'm not sure yet if these birds are actually resident there, because 
I haven't been keeping good records, but they're sure there a lot.

Tom  Condit

P S ... And way off-topic for the list, does anyone have any birding tips 
for Languedoc or Roussillon? We're leaving at the end of the month.

At 10:29 AM 4/8/05 -0700, Lance Beeson wrote:
>Being new to regular birding, I have enjoyed the serendipity of the 
>experience. Went for a walk in Wildcat Canyon, binocs in hand, yesterday 
>evening. Not much to see except a big red-tailed hawk circling above. So 
>as I sat on my porch taking off my boots, I looked up in the still 
>mostly-bare tree on my front lawn and saw a new-to-me bird. After studying 
>it and watching it eat some big green worm or something (it kept slapping 
>it against a branch) I determined that it was a Yellow-Rumped warbler. 
>Fits the descriptions both in Sibleys and on Percevia exactly. And it kept 
>flying back to the tree for the next half hour.
>Guess I should just stay at home!!

Tom Condit
tomcondit at igc.org